McDonald's celebrates 40th anniversary of Chicken McNuggets with The Sandbox experience

McDonald’s is a world-renowned fast food restaurant chain. Its history can be traced back to 1948. It is famous for its delicious burgers, French fries and milkshakes, and has many loyal customers around the world.

In 1948, there were no Chicken McNuggets at McDonald's.

The original McDonald's

The world's first McDonald's was founded in 1948 in California, USA. It was founded by the McDonald brothers Richard James McDonald and Maurice James McDonald. It is the predecessor of today's McDonald's restaurant.

Image source: Internet

At that time, there were many hamburger restaurants in the United States, but the quality was quite poor. Hamburgers are easy to make and inexpensive, so they attracted a large number of consumers at the time to dine there. However, due to the long waiting time for meals, consumers often smoke while waiting for their meals, resulting in cigarette butts littered on the floor of hamburger restaurants and a very dirty environment. In addition, when cars first entered American households, people were accustomed to parking their cars at roadside restaurants to buy food when they went out.

The McDonald brothers saw these needs and made a series of changes.

First, they converted the restaurant's exterior into large transparent floor-to-ceiling windows so that everyone who dine in the restaurant can see the interior of the restaurant. Next, they introduced the "Speedee Service System", which brought the concept of factory assembly lines into the hamburger industry, producing hamburgers quickly according to standard procedures. At the same time, they enabled Drive thru service, allowing consumers to order food in their cars, reducing the time customers stay in the restaurant. This not only reduces the generation of garbage, but also greatly improves the cleanliness of the environment, further driving the growth of performance.

Image source: McDonald’s quarterly report

In terms of meals, the McDonald brothers realized that the hamburger market was highly competitive, so they focused their development strategy on side dishes, determined to create a hamburger meal with the best quality side dishes. They launched French fries, which received a warm response in the market. This small change gave customers more delicious options and brought significant success to McDonald's.

Image source: Internet

In addition, the McDonald brothers also adopted innovative approaches to restaurant operations. They began to use paper tableware to avoid employees having to wash dishes, thereby reducing the workload of restaurant staff, while speeding up the delivery of meals and improving the restaurant's turnover rate. Such innovation not only improves efficiency, but also provides customers with a faster and more convenient dining experience.

McDonald's Expansion

As McDonald's became more popular, Ray Kroc, a milkshake blender salesman, saw that McDonald's needed to use eight milkshake blenders at the same time, and he discovered an unusual business opportunity. After Ray Kroc's on-site inspection, he confirmed that he could sell a large number of blenders to each new restaurant, so in 1955, Ray began to work with the McDonald brothers to develop the McDonald's restaurant franchise business.

Image source: Internet

On April 15, 1955, Ray Kroc founded a franchise company, McDonald’s System Inc., and obtained the franchise rights in Des Plaines, Illinois. He opened McDonald’s ninth restaurant on Lee Street, hoping to replicate McDonald’s successful model around the world.

However, the McDonald brothers were reluctant to expand on a large scale, which eventually frustrated Kroc. So in 1961, Kroc decided to buy the company from the McDonald brothers. They reached an agreement that the McDonald brothers would receive a one-time $2.7 million for the transfer of the McDonald's restaurant chain, and would also receive 1% of the company's total turnover as a franchise royalty each year.

The royalty portion of the deal ended up being a handshake deal because Kroc insisted that the people he had brought in to finance the deal did not want royalties in the contract. At the end of the negotiations, the McDonald brothers insisted on transferring the real estate ownership of their first McDonald's restaurant to their employees rather than to Kroc, which made Kroc resentful. Later, Kroc refused to recognize or fulfill the franchise fee portion of the handshake agreement. He also opened a new McDonald's restaurant near the first McDonald's restaurant (which was renamed "Big M Restaurant" because the McDonald brothers lost the McDonald's trademark rights in the agreement), causing the real first McDonald's restaurant to close down.

The Birth of the Chicken McNugget

Let's fast forward to 1979, when McDonald's welcomed its first executive chef, Rene Arend. Rene Allende combined the concepts of his predecessors, processing and blending the chicken into a paste, adding breadcrumbs, and then frying it to create Chicken McNuggets. During the production process, chicken nuggets are produced in four shapes, namely "bell", "boot", "bone" or "butterfly", and "ball", and they are similar in size. When sold, the nuggets are distributed approximately randomly, and a box of McNuggets may contain all four shapes or just a single shape. McDonald's claims that similar size can ensure similar cooking time in stores, ensuring stable product quality, while the different shapes of chicken nuggets can bring different dining pleasures. Its four shapes are just the right numbers between three and five.

Image source: McDonald's official website

In 1979, Chicken McNuggets were a huge hit and every franchise wanted to have this delicious dish. But Rene Allende also admitted that chicken supply has become a problem and there is no suitable system to solve this supply bottleneck. It was not until this problem was solved that McDonald's introduced Chicken McNuggets to franchised restaurants across the United States and around the world in 1983.

To this day, Chicken McNuggets remains one of McDonald's most popular products. The name Nugget comes from the image of a gold nugget. Because McNuggets look like a gold nugget, it has become a popular signature dish.

McDonald's continues to be delicious and creative

Throughout McDonald's successful history, in addition to its popular burgers and chicken nuggets, the brand has also demonstrated continuous creativity and diverse exhibition activities, allowing consumers to gain a deeper understanding of this world-renowned restaurant brand.

For example: In 2016, McDonald’s held the “McDonald’s Toy Park” exhibition in Taikoo City Center! There are multiple three-dimensional installations on site, including the classic Ronald McDonald bench, Big Bird, Milkshake Brother, Hamburger Thief doll, and the layout of former McDonald's branches, including apple trees and locomotive carriages, which are definitely photo spots not to be missed!

In addition, the exhibition also displays a number of representative McDonald's toys from different eras, totaling more than one thousand pieces, many of which are the Snoopy World Tour, 101 Dalmatians series, Hello Kitty wedding costume plush dolls that caused a sensation many years ago. Do you relate to those years when people went crazy eating at McDonald's just to exchange for dolls? McDonald's presented a series of classic toys to fans from different generations. These toys represent the emotional connection between McDonald's and consumers and also remind people of their happy childhood.

Not only that, McDonald's also actively participates in art and cultural activities to showcase the diverse aspects of the brand.

In 2021, Taipei held the "City Impression Big Mike" installation art exhibition. This exhibition presents the Big Mac burger in the form of art, allowing viewers to appreciate this classic food from a different perspective, while also exploring the connection between the city and its dining culture. The art exhibition attracted many art lovers and loyal fans of McDonald's, showcasing the brand's fashionable and innovative image.

Image source: Internet

McDonald's themed game experience "McNuggets® Land"

This year, McDonald's Chicken McNuggets celebrated its 40th anniversary. To mark this special milestone, McDonald’s Hong Kong has partnered with The Sandbox to launch McNuggets® Land in the first-ever Metaverse experience to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Chicken McNugget.

In this metaverse experience, we can see a McDonald's restaurant with large transparent floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as four classic styles of McNuggets. Complete the designated tasks and have a chance to win various rich rewards, and even have a chance to win the grand prize of "Free McNuggets 365 Days"! From now on, everyone can log in to the "McNuggets® Land" game website for free and participate in different interactive virtual experiences. These experiences include serving as a food deliveryman in a "simulated workplace experience", completing tasks in a virtual art exhibition hall, and participating in a series of McNuggets-themed mini-games.

Image source: Play The Sandbox YT

Image source: Play The Sandbox YT

Players who successfully complete the level will have the opportunity to participate in the 40th Anniversary Celebration Party with Team McNuggets® online and have the chance to win prizes. These include

Global Prize Pool

100,000 SAND Prize Pool

Mystery Box (Includes an exclusive NFT collection!)

Commemorative badge

🇭🇰 Hong Kong User Exclusive Prize Pool 🇭🇰

"Free 365-day Chicken McNuggets®" (10 places available)

"Chicken McNuggets® (6 pieces) Value Meal Redemption Coupon" (10,000 places)

Participants who successfully challenge all levels will have a chance to win the ultimate prize - "Free Chicken McNuggets for 365 Days"! If you're eager to eat Chicken McNuggets for free this year, then go online and join the game now!

Conclusion

McDonald's is not only one of the most popular restaurant chains in the world, but also a brand of continuous innovation and breakthroughs. By continuously launching various creative exhibitions and activities, McDonald's allows consumers to have a deeper understanding of the brand's story and values, while also constantly attracting new consumers to join this happy big family.

As a pioneer of the Metaverse, The Sandbox hopes to allow more players, creators, brands, and IP celebrities to join the Metaverse in the future, and use the power of Web3 to provide education, social experiences, and activities. As more and more people join The Sandbox, the global influence of this platform will continue to expand, bringing a brighter future for the development of virtual creation and the virtual world.

If you are a brand, you want to expand into the global market, create brand voice and value, and combine online and offline marketing to create unlimited possibilities.

You can contact nspace ( support@nspace.media ). nspace is a company that specializes in creating Web3 experiences for brands. We provide land sales/leasing and asset construction for The Sandbox, as well as marketing and planning for brands and products.

Meanwhile, nspace has helped Shin Kong Life Insurance participate in MegaCity3’s land offering at The Sandbox, using Jinbao as a Premium Asset, and will also launch its own The Sandbox experience this year.

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